SBI leads $17m Series B for India health-tech player
SBI Ven Capital, a Singapore-based division of Japan’s SBI Group, has led a $17.2 million Series B round for Mfine, an Indian healthcare technology player that uses artificial intelligence (AI).
Beenext, Stellaris Venture Partners, and Prime Venture Partners also participated. It brings total funds raised to date to about $24 million. The capital will be used to grow the company’s hospital network across India, develop AI systems, and expand recently launched services in medicine delivery, preventive health screenings and diagnostic tests.
Mfine aims to be one of the largest virtual hospitals in the world with services across primary care, secondary care, and chronic care management. The business model aggregates more than 500 Indian doctors from some 100 reputed hospitals and 20 specialties on a platform that facilitates patient consultations in 800 towns with limited healthcare services.
In the next 12 months, the company plans to grow its network to include India’s top 250 hospitals and more than 2,500 doctors. Partner hospitals will have access to an AI engine that has the ability to diagnose and triage over 1,200 common diseases and read hundreds of health parameters in the diagnostic reports, thus saving significant time for the doctors.
According to a statement, Mfine’s customer base reached more than 100,000 over the past 15 months and is growing at 30% per month. The company attributed the uptake to strong demand related to inaccessibility of quality care, predominantly out-of-pocket health spending, and a poor doctor-to-patient ratio. India is said to have one doctor for every 1,700 people.
This imbalance is expected to be offset by a government initiative known as Ayushman Bharat that aims to expand the reach of the healthcare industry, as well as growth in internet penetration and smart phone adoption, which have attracted VC attention to a burgeoning local health-tech space. Earlier this year, Bangalore-based AI diagnostics company SigTuple raised a $16 million Series C.
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